Preparing
for opportunities was the theme of a workshop on Minorities
and Applied Mathematics-Connections to Industry,
held October 4--6, 1996 at the Institute for Mathematics and
its Applications (IMA), University of Minnesota. Approximately
sixty invited minorities in mathematical sciences attended the
workshop. Of these, forty were Ph.D. students from mathematical
sciences departments in North America; the other twenty participants
represented a range of professional experience from postdoc
to senior scientist. Also attending were Avner Friedman, Director
of the IMA; Robert Gulliver, Associate Director of the IMA;
and Barry Cipra, a science writer.

The workshop was arranged by the IMA Director and the organizers
to provide an atmosphere in which minority graduate students
could hear about the research and careers associated with applying
mathematics to real-world problems. The real-world problems
presented to students involved mathematics at all levels from
elementary to technical, and showed students the need to communicate
across disciplines with scientists and engineers having sophisticated
mathematical training. Students began that communication process
(listening and speaking) at this workshop. Their careers will
be enhanced by this type of exposure; they were encouraged to
seek similar opportunties at their home insitutions and in their
home regions. Each graduate student attending the workshop agreed
to return to their home institution and make a presentation
about the workshop, so that its benefits would not be limited
to those who attended.

The composition of the workshop--- a relatively small group,
mostly graduate students--- was based on the model used at the
workshop for women at the IMA in February, 1996 and was intended
to create a comfortable and relaxed environment. The workshop
contained four components:

Overview talks by senior participants about their technical
work and career experiences;

Technical talks about the applications of mathematics associated
with various real-world problems;

Focused small-group discussions charged to produce action
items for colleges and universities, government laboratories,
funding agencies and professional organizations;

An after-dinner talk by Earl Barnes of Georgia Tech describing
how the discovery of Karmarkar's algorithm affected IBM's
business strategy and the relationship between further developments
in the mathematics and changes in strategy by IBM and its
competitors.

The minority mathematics community is small, and the workshop
was the first opportunity for many of the students to network
with minority professionals sharing their interest in mathematics.

The technical talks were uniformly of high quality, and covered
a range of applications, including manufacturing of semi-conductors,
microstructure of materials, design of a chemical vapor deposition
reactor, mathematical problems arising in biology including
freezing of tissues for biomedical engineering, dynamics of
proteins in aqueous solutions, transport of solutes across cell
membranes and reconstruction of images in tomography. The mathematics
involved included wavelets, Markov processes, optimization,
partial differential equations and computer models. (Abstracts
of all the talks are in Section IV below.)

The small-group discussion sessions were also modelled on the
program held for women in February. Each group included about
twelve people, typically eight graduate students and four senior
mathematicians. One or two people served as coordinators to
assure that everyone had a chance to speak and to assure that
the group covered all relevant topics. One person was designated
as recorder to prepare notes of each group's discussions. Another
member of each group was asked to present the group's recommendations
at the final assembly of all workshop participants. Student
volunteers introduced speakers after the morning session, providing
another chance for them to practice their communications skills.

The organizing committee was extremely pleased with the workshop.
Participants were so enthusiastic that one of their primary
suggestions was a request to meet again to see how people had
carried out the suggestions made to them. They wanted to use
another meeting to practice skills suggested at this workshop,
where graduate students would give more of the talks, and would
receive advance help in order to make maximum use of the conference.

The primary value of workshops like this is the students' exposure
to people like themselves with interests like theirs, who have
accomplished what they are striving to accomplish. All mathematicians
are members of many communities--- minorities, women, men, analysts,
geometers, topologists, applied mathematicians. Workshops like
this do not substitute for the specialized meetings of those
communities; they serve to demonstrate the existence of a minority
mathematics community which is not visible to students isolated
in their graduate programs.

The meeting was valuable because minority mathematicians have
an unparalleled opportunity. Mathematics research and education
are rapidly changing. The minority mathematics community did
not prosper under the old model; there is a willingness in our
community to consider other models of preparation for a career
in research. This workshop showed that minority students are
eager to prepare themselves for twenty-first century opportunities.

Mathematical problems arising in industrial applications typically
embody complicated, interdisciplinary issues of formulation,
analysis and solution. Minorities in mathematical careers are
often attracted to areas in which their results can have a societal
impact. There are manuy opportunites provided by real-world
problems for high-quality research, contributions to practical
results, and rewarding scientific careers. The purpose of the
weekend workshop is to show examples of people and problems
from industrial settings and to develop a set of concrete action
items that individuals and agencies can carry out and help minority
scientists at all levels and in varied environments become involved
with industrial problems.

The first goal will be achieved through technical talks by selected
participants chosen based on their success with real-world problems.
The collection of action items will build on suggestions received
at earlier workshops.

Participants
return to their groups to continue drafting portions of
the "concrete action" document, returning for a general
session in EE/CS 3-180

11:30-12:00

R.
Johnson, F. Jones, J. Turner

Maryland/IBM/Florida
A&ampM

Summary

Breakout Group Recommendations

Each breakout group was asked to discuss the following topics:

Undergraduate
and graduate education in mathematical sciences

Transition from undergraduate to graduate work;

Curricular issues;

Uses of technology.

Preparing for opportunities

Bridging the gap between academia and industry;

Breadth of training;

Role of interdisciplinary work;

Role of internships;

Entrepeneurs and the global ecnonomy.

Although each group took a slightly different perspective on
the main issues, many common elements were cited. Means of overcoming
difficulties faced by students at the transition points (undergraduate
to graduate, graduate to work) were subjects of numerous suggestions.
Since members of the minority community frequently work in isolation,
most of the recommendations were actions for individuals to
undertake to prepare themselves better. The key to increasing
the number of minority mathematicians is individual inititative
on the items discussed below.

The main recommendations from all breakout groups are listed
here in four groups; recommendations for faculty and students,
recommendations for students, recommendations for academic mathematical
sciences departments and recommendations for the professional
societies. (Some recommendations are listed under more than
one heading.)

A.
&nbsp &nbsp Actions for everyone

Get connected; have and use e-mail and internet access

Make departmental presentations about this workshop; invite
students from other departments

Contact all your mentors and professors as you near completion
of your M.S. or Ph.D. degree, asking them to get the word
out that you are close to graduating

Ask professors and mentors to send recommendations; those
based on personal contact are particularly important

Send letters/resumes "out of cycle" when the majority
of letters/resumes are least likely to come (this is less
effective in academe than in industry)

Always follow up contacts

Continually update your resume

Stay aware of current events to facilitate conversations
during job interviews

Call ahead to determine which areas of research are of
interest to the company with which you are interviewing---
meet industry halfway by showing them you are a good match
with their needs

C.
&nbsp &nbsp Actions for academic mathematical sciences departments

Organize student-to-student forums conducted by graduate students
for undergraduate student math majors to talk about the transition
to graduate school

Have a ``strategies to get a job" seminar (for undergraduates
and/or for graduate students). Invite employers of all types---
community colleges, four-year colleges, industry and government
representatives

Recognize and support students who plan to enter the job market
with a B.~S.~or a M.~S.~degree

Forward all job listings to all graduate students at all levels

Offer a math modeling class where students can work on problems
from industry--- expose students to working in teams and learning
how to approach problems

Make the modeling class interdisciplinary by cross-listing
it with other departments

Encourage students who want to take courses outside the Mathematics
Department

Invite speakers from industry to talk about real-world problems

Contact graduates who work in industry

Set up an Advisory Committee with invited representatives
from local industry to provide another source of speakers

Improve advising for graduate students; some groups even suggested
development and use of a placement exam

Offer support to students other than teaching assistantships;
research internships in industry would prepare students to
begin industrial careers as teaching assistantships encourage
them to pursue teaching

Be aware of students in other disciplines, such as EE, who
take lots of mathematics, as sources of double majors and
graduate students

In industry, mathematics departments should explain their
usefulness to the company; in academe, mathematical sciences
departments should explain their usefulness to allied departments

D.
&nbsp &nbsp Actions for professional societies

Encourage student participation at meetings

Organize events for students

Support students' attendance at society meetings (as is
done by the Society for Mathematical Biology)